Peregrination, Sessions

Midweek Sessions

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 19:16:13 GMT

Today's session went well. We played Flick.ManoAMano for about three hours, and then several of us played a couple round of BenG.Breakthrough for a little under an hour. Several members continued playing as part of ZMD's event, which our member Calus CoRPS won. We'll be continuing with another session of Mano A Mano next week at the same time.

I'd like to start filling out our schedule with a midweek session. I'm thinking Wednesday evenings (6:00pm EDT, UT-4), but I havn't picked a game yet. Reply here or on the forum if you have a game you'd like to play (or to suggest a different time).

Edit: We've temporarily chosen Plunder Gnome for this Wednesday's session, but I'd still like to hear other ideas. Having two games going can help if the first game starts getting boring.

Session Sunday

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:53:36 GMT

This Sunday, probably around 12pm eastern time (UT-5), the guild will be playing a session. I'm thinking we'll play Flick.ManoAMano, as that's what we've been playing recently. Show up any time around or after 12 and you'll find me (and hopefully others) playing. If you'd like to suggest a different time or game, just reply here. We can even string together a couple different games/times.

PS: If you'd like to donate some time updating the CSS, just comment here or post on the forum.

(Comments restricted to guild members, but guild membership is open to all).

Sessions Guild

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:48:44 GMT

After talking with some other members while playing various games today, I've decided to bring back the Sessions guild. What is the Sessions guild, you ask?

The purpose of Sessions is to find other people to play games with. There are a lot of us who like to play BYOND games like Flick.ManoAMano or Oasiscircle.TurtleTowers, but when we log in there's no one there. By maintaining a list of good games we want to play, other people who want to play those games, and times when we'll meet up and play them, the Sessions guild will help find you people to play with.

Over the next week or so I'll be reconfiguring the site to reflect its new purpose and changing over the favorites list to reflect the guild members' preferences (instead of being my favorites). For now I've reinstated the Sessions Forum, so you can post there if you have a specific game you'd like to play and optionally a time you'd generally be able to play. You'll need to join the guild before you can do that, though. A word of caution for anyone currently in my guild: If you don't want to be paged with invites to play Acebloke.Exploder (or some other game I'm hosting at the time) then now would be a good time to leave the guild.

Now that I have a server I can host from, I'll host something this Sunday, and I'll probably make that a regular part of the guild.

Realization (Game Design)

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:29:52 GMT

Note: This is a post of no particular value to anyone. In other words, it's truly a "blog" post. As such, I've decided not to show it on the front page. Read if you've got 5min you need to kill.

Sometimes I loose track of my own personal history. I don't know if that's something common to most people, or particular to me. I was reminded of something just now while reading a post by Foomer, in a discussion on the developer forum. A large part of that thread focuses on the need for developers to find others willing to work for them, because programmers can't make graphics and artists can't program. The problem lies in the fact that each developer (programmer or artist) is working on their own game, and wants to get someone to work for them, not the other way around. This is a giant issue on BYOND. The good news? Don't look at me, this isn't a post about how to save BYOND, this is me talking about myself, so let's get back on track. Foomer wrote:

You may be bitter about it, but its not true. So not everyone has a talent for programming. Just because someone isn't good at something doesn't mean they can't do it. Look at Theodis. He's an awesome programmer, very talented in that aspect. Can't draw worth beans. He makes stick figures. Does this stop him from making games? No, he makes his games stick figures and all. The reverse is also true. Someone may not be good at programming, but that doesn't stop them from being able to do it. You can get away with a poorly-coded game with awesome design or graphics just as well as you can a very well-coded game with really sad graphics. (Design isn't really optional. A poorly designed game will suck no matter what.)

This got me thinking. People generally consider me to be a good programmer. I'm not. I'm a diligent programmer and I've worked for a very long time to learn the craft, but I don't have any special flair for it like some people do.

People generally consider me to be a good artist, too. In fact, a little while ago when I was hiring myself out as a programmer, several people approached me to do graphic work instead. I've never considered myself a graphic artist, though. My three siblings in art school are the artists, I just make "programmers art" to make my games more lively. Granted, I've spent years honing the craft and picking up techniques, but I have no innate flair for it. I simulate flair by throwing time at something.

So, yeah, by being diligent and spending a lot of time I can create good graphics and good code, but I'm not primarily a graphic artist or a programmer. I'm a game designer, it's an art as complex and noble as any other. I have been one ever since I can remember, and that's also why I'm on BYOND. I just forget that sometimes, like this week as I've been spending every free moment doing graphics for Regressia.

GiaD 2009 Results

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 21:40:18 GMT

I promised you results on Sunday, didn't I? According to BYOND standard time, I've still got about 3 hours to deliver that promise. What, you live in Australia, and it's Monday already? Hey, not my problem Kangaroos can't keep proper time. Besides, it's only been two weeks, this is the fastest any BYOND competition has every been judged!

Seriously, though, stop paging me.

The zip with the entries is still uploading, so it may be a couple minutes before it's available. Also, the prizes have yet to be determined or distributed. I'm expecting to hear back from our sponsors as soon as they see the results. So if you got a good place, just sit tight and I'll post the prize information as soon as I get it.

Congrats to well... I won't spoil it. Congratz to the winners. Now go read the document.

Edit: You can also view a list of all developers who were ranked "Complete" or higher, by viewing this hub page. If you are on that list and would like to proudly display your accomplishment on your members page, simply add that hub to your favorites and the medal will show up on your blog shortly thereafter.

Server 2

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 04:32:30 GMT

About two weeks ago I mentioned that I had a new server up and running, and that another, better, machine would be coming along shortly. After non-stop downloads and installs of drivers and software over the past two days, I am finally posting from that new machine.

Er... did I say new? I don't know how old it is, but it's newer than any of the other boxes I have laying about. The case is in rough shape and whoever originally built the thing is a damn fool. All the drives stick out from a missing face plate, and I found the hard drive hanging by it's bus connection - just kinda floating there; it's missing whatever part was supposed to hold it. There's 2GB of non-matching RAM. I think one of them might be on the way out, as the BIOS refused to load today until I swapped them. The processor is a Mobile AMD Sempron. I like AMD, but what's a low end notebook processor doing in a desktop? The motherboard is a MicroATX from "Biostar", a company I'd never heard of, and doesn't match any of the diagrams printed on the case, which complicated my search for drivers. I don't know if the motherboard was original to this case, but nothing matches up, and a good jostle in the room will result in the side panel falling off.

For someone who's used to running ~10 year old desktops and laptops, though, it runs pretty fast. It runs Regressia smoothly, which my laptop never could, and even JKD seems to run pretty well, which is a miracle on any machine.

So now I have one slow but stable computer in an excellent case (I am very impressed by how sturdy and user friendly the Sony Vaio desktop case is), one (comparatively) speedy shoe-box that may or may not boot tomorrow, and one comfortable laptop which caught a nasty virus the moment I fixed all it's hardware woes.

So, what should I host today? Got a nice board game or text MUD? Anyone got a sturdy case they're not using?

GiaD 2009: And that's it!

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:10:24 GMT

Close your books, pencils down, the test is over. The programming portion of the GiaD 2009 is officially closed. If you haven't already sent in your source, send in whatever you have right now and hope that I won't notice the time stamp; even if you're disqualified for time, I'll still include a write-up about your game in the results. So far we've had a better turn out than previous years.

So get some sleep, say a little prayer that Acebloke doesn't die from his time without sleep or food, and consider joining me in a game of Jeet Kune Do on my very laggy server. I'll leave it up for a while if people want to chat, etc.

~~byond://96.253.14.217:7231~~
DarkCampainger has saved you all from terrible lag:
byond://67.175.210.134:3000

I hope to be back within 2 weeks with the results, sooner if all the prize stuff goes smoothly. Thank you to everyone who participated or spread the word, and good luck!

GiaD 2009: Two hours left!

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 19:15:56 GMT

Just a reminder to anyone confused by the time zones, there are now only 2 hours remaining in the 2009 GiaD event. So remove all those test verbs, patch up the most important bugs, and get those entries to me (iainperegrine, gmail.com). Remember to specify that you don't want your code released if that's your preference.

Good Luck!

GiaD 2009 has started (Membership Prizes)

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:10:28 GMT

Edit: I forgot to mention that we have some prizes this year! Farawayhost.com is offering 1 month of hosting to any developer who's entry gets a "polished" rating, and is also offering a BYOND membership to their favorite game. Additionally, the developers at Paperclip studios have offered a BYOND membership as well. So get to it!

I've searched high and low for an appropriate theme for this year's event, and it's turtles all the way down!

Or Flight.
Or Mechanics. Edit: Several people commented by pager asking what counts as "mechanics". Robots are good, as are steam powered vehicles and devices, and lots of gears and oil is always a plus, though this is by no means an exhaustive list of what's acceptable.

Last year we tried out a new approach and announced several themes so that no one would be turned away by a bogus idea. From what other people have told me, that seemed to work out well, so I'm announcing three themes this year, too. An action, an atmosphere, and a joke (like last year's "sandwhich").

Pick whichever theme you want (though I'd suggest either flight or mechanics). If you were hoping for either Airships or Steampunk, just combine Flight and Mechanics :)

Click here for the full rules. Please note that the event will be judged with ranks for "1st Place", etc.

Whatever you do, make sure that you send me your source files (iainperegrine, gmail.com) by 11:59pm (Eastern Time) Sunday. So get to it, and good luck!

GiaD: Award places? (1st place, etc.)

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 02:56:46 GMT

One more last minute change before we get the GiaD underway. In the past we've had problems getting judges for the GiaD, and I've judged the last two events alone. For various reasons, I decided that it's better to judge the entries individually ("Complete" or "Unplayable", etc.) instead of competitively ("1st Place" or "Honorable Mention", etc.).

I recently explained my reasoning for this policy in a response to D4RK3 54B3R (skip):

>D4RK3 54B3R wrote:
> [...]

Those are all contentious issues which have come up every year when doing the GiaD. I have strong opinions about how the event should be held, but they may not be in sync with what this community wants. I'm more than willing to consider any input, just keep in mind that I'm the only person judging these entries. Until that changes, the reality of bias in my preferences and judging style must be accepted.

> Is anyone pitching in for prizes, or is that not going to happen anymore?
> And also, is there even going to be top places awarded? Like first place, second place, and third place?

Purchasing and distributing prizes is a logistical hassle I'm not suited to handle. That being said, the main reason I don't award "1st Place" or anything like that is because a lot of what I do is highly subjective. I play the games, I write up a review, take a screen shot, and then talk about what I liked or didn't like. If there were four of us judging then I could feel more confident about the relative rankings, but until that happens I don't feel that it's fair to the participants to comparatively rank the entries.

I feel that is a vital part of the GiaD, that the entries are evaluated individually, and not comparatively. Each entry is categorized based on completion, polish, gameplay, and use of theme. I believe that any competent developer with a good grasp of the development process should be able to achieve a rank of Complete given the time frame and restrictions. Requiring that they then best all other developers robs them of this achievement.

In the past I have tried to balance both sides in the same document, and (unless someone changes my mind) I'll be following the same basic format. Each entry will be judged according to the criteria and will be given one of the categorizations. Then I will order them on the page according to how well I feel they did comparatively. If you look at the results for 2007 you'll see that JP's Ragnarok is listed first, followed by CaptFalcon33035's Frost Fortress, which are both fantastic games. (I seriously wish Frost Fortress were expanded on, I would probably be playing it right now). Even though there is no formal declaration, I felt JP's was the strongest entry in terms of scope, depth of play, and replay value, none of which are determining factors in evaluating whether or not a game is complete.

I hope that I'm striking a balance, that that both sides can be satisfied with the result. If not, let me know and I'll see what I can do.

> without a strict 24 hour timeframe, the GIADs really lose a lot of their appeal to me. I like the tension and the stress and pumping something amazing and cool out of that.

So do I. This has been a concession I've had to make given the geographical distribution of BYOND members. Acebloke and Elation are in England, and isn't JP is Australia? For them, a time frame of 6:00pm Saturday to 6:00pm Sunday doesn't make a damn bit of sense. I'd like the rule to be midnight to midnight, your own local time, but I have no way of enforcing that without giving each time zone its own theme. I, personally, work from midnight to midnight, and I think that anyone else who can get that time free (from work, etc.) should do the same. In the end it does come down to the honor system, but at least it's a fair honor system.

I hope the above addresses your concerns. It is an imperfect system, and if you have any ideas for improvement please let me know. For the sake of clarity allow me to summarize my thoughts:

1. In keeping with the spirit of the event, games are judged individually, not comparatively. Game are, however, ordered (highly subjectively!) in the results document based on their comparative strengths. The first game in the document is analogous to the first place winner in a competition.

2. A strict 24hr time frame is preferable, but not feasible given the worldwide distribution of developers. An honor system wherein developers choose their own 24hr period from a 48hr window is the best compromise I can think of while still announcing a unifying theme at the start of the event.

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If you are a past participant, or if you are planning to participate this weekend, or if you would participate if there were rankings, I would like to hear your opinion. Please note that, though this is a poll, I will be basing future policy on ideas, so please comment about why you voted the way you did. If I get a convincing response before the day is through, I may change the policy in time for tomorrow.